"Unfortunately so much commentary is self-serving or sensationalist. Pete Wargent shines through with his clear, sober & dispassionate analysis of the housing market, which is so valuable. Pete drills into the facts & unlocks the details that others gloss over in their rush to get a headline. On housing Pete is a must read, must follow - he is one of the finest property analysts in Australia" - Stephen Koukoulas, MD of Market Economics, former Senior Economics Adviser to Prime Minister Gillard.

"Pete Wargent is one of Australia's brightest financial minds - a must-follow for articulate, accurate & in-depth analysis." - David Scutt, Business Insider, leading Australian market analyst.

"I've been investing for over 40 years & read nearly every investment book ever written yet I still learned new concepts in his books. Pete Wargent is one of Australia's finest young financial commentators." - Michael Yardney, Australia's leading property expert, Amazon #1 best-selling author.

"The most knowledgeable person on Aussie real estate markets - Pete's work is great, loads of good data and charts, the most comprehensive analyst I follow in Australia. If you follow Australia, follow Pete Wargent" - Jonathan Tepper, Variant Perception, Global Macroeconomic Research, and author of the New York Times bestsellers 'End Game' and 'Code Red'.

"The level of detail in Pete's work is superlative across all of Australia's housing markets" - Grant Williams, co-founder RealVision, author of Things That Make You Go Hmmm...one of the world's most popular & widely-read financial publications.

Saturday, 23 July 2016

Sydney unemployment rate 4.2 per cent

Jobs growth

The ABS Detailed Labour Force figures for June recorded total employment in original terms of 11.965 million, a solid increase from one year ago of +228,200.

While the participation rate was unchanged from one year ago, the employment to population ratio has improved to 61.2 per cent from 61 per cent in June 2015.

Melbourne leads employment growth

In a recent change, Greater Melbourne (+78,300) has now edged out Sydney (+61,400) in terms of annual employment growth.

And after years of stagnation there was even a flicker of life in regional Victoria (+22,700), with employment gains in Geelong (+23,100) and Bendigo (+7,200) over the past year.

Elsewhere, only Greater Brisbane (+23,800) recorded annual jobs growth of any real note, with regional Queensland shedding a miserable -16,700 jobs in aggregate.

Employment growth has also been muted in Adelaide and Perth,

Piecing it together, the figures help to explain the recent trend of interstate migration to Melbourne - where a great many jobs have been created - from cities such as Adelaide and Perth, where employment opportunities have been less plentiful.

Unemployment rates

Sydney's unemployment rate declined to just 4.2 per cent in June, while the unemployment rate for Greater Brisbane of just 4.9 per cent was the best result for the Queensland capital in years.

At the other end of the spectrum, Greater Adelaide is still tracking at 7 per cent.

The monthly data is volatile and not very reliable, so below the figures have been plotted on a rolling annual basis.

Melbourne and Brisbane jointly win the "most improved" award, but Greater Sydney's infrastructure boom keeps the harbour city's economy at the top of the pile.